Catching up: AML

I have done a poor job keeping up my blog since my treatments ended. I am finiding that there are fellow AMLers out there reading this. So I can promise you I will do a better job keeping this up in the new year. There is much to tell, but I'll give you the abbreviated version.

First I'll bring you up to speed on my AML.

My last treatment ended July 2nd. My 3 month and 6 month checkup showed that my counts were good and that I was still in remission. They were only doing blood tests and watching my counts, but I'm told they should be able to tell if my cancer comes back through monitoring my blood work.

At my 3 month visit, my bloodwork showed that one of my antibodies were low (borderline). This is to be expected with all the chemo. My immune system needs, and will continue to need a bit of a boost. To address this, I was started on monthly IVIG treatments. I think I will wrote a separate blog post about the actual IVIG treatment, but it is a blood product like platelets and hemoglobin. I did 2 of those treatments. At my 6 month checkup, my blood work showed that I no longer need additional IVIG treatments.

On thanksgiving I woke with what I thought was a rash on my side. It got significantly worse and painful throughout the day. Turns out I had a shingles. It was a first for me. I had never seen them or seen anyone with them before. Shingles is a reactivation of the chickenpox virus which lies dormant in our nerve endings. It can happen to about anyone and is more common in people that have suppressed immune systems. My breakout was fairly small, on my side and thigh, but very painful. It is very important that you see your doctor and begin treatment as soon as possible if you have shingles. If left to run its course, the pain can linger even after the sores are gone. For me, most of the pain and sores are gone (4 weeks later).

At my 6 month checkup, the doctor suggested we do a bone marrow biopsy. Since I had met my out of pocket and deductible for the year, it seemed to make sense. A bone marrow biopsy consists of the doctors sticking a needle into the hip bone to extract bone marrow. I had three prior to this one. Even though they are painful, the experience is generally not too bad. This time, however, the doctor struggled to get any bone marrow. They sent me to radiology where they could use one of the imaging machines to see what they were doing. The good news is that they gave me anesthesia at that point. I would highly recommend this approach to anyone getting bone marrow biopsy. Now that I’ve had it done this way once… I should be able to use that as an excuse for any future biopsies.

I will put my bone marrow results in a future post. For now, I have been feeling well. Energy has been good. Work has been good. The holidays with family have been great. It does seem, however, that the new year will have some new adventures in store for me.